RE: I’ll Be The Judge Of That
Oh yes! I haven’t received a @glenalbrethsen response like this in way too long! I haven’t even read it yet, I wanted to say thanks for writing it first—can’t wait! Ok, I’ll be back, now I’m gonna read it.
I’m back. I sure do appreciate this response, sir. Before I get going, good morning to you and yours from Rome. We really appreciate you resteeming that article about Pura’s illness—your contributions around here never go unnoticed. Thanks to the support of this community over just a few days time vs the attention from trained medical professionals over nearly a two year time is NO comparison. We’re making progress finally, thank God, I’ll be doing an update to that article shortly.
I’m sure I’d have a different perspective if I lived in Latin America for as long as you did. We were there just long enough to learn the surface of the language which makes it difficult to engulf yourself in the culture lacking communication. That said, however, I don’t believe it would’ve changed the ATM sign on our backs regardless if we spoke the language—do you agree? I used the wOrd disappointed in the article and that’s really all it is. There’s no animosity here, like I said, I’m a big fan of second chances and I really like to give everyone/anyone the benefit of the doubt but ‘disappointment’ is disappointment regardless.
I completely understand what you’re saying about the humbler are those of modest means—well said, I might add. On that note, however, the same didn’t reign true regarding the Latin American residents who look like me. They drive fancy dune buggies to the bar and party all day long just to return to the fancy house on the hill where native born citizens mow their lawn and fold their laundry. They play a huge part in making us targets, as well, I just wish I didn’t feel like such a target. It’s really uncomfortable when law enforcement treats you like an ATM, too, it’s bad enough not being able to protect yourself with firearms but when policia don’t see you as human, and you believe your safety is in question, it’s unsettling.
Thanks a lot for checking this article out, sir, and I appreciate you drawing out this long response from me. I hope this message finds you and yours well. Happy Friday, sir! Have you heard about the best weekend of the year yet? No? Oh man.. it’s just around the corner. 😉 Keep in touch, Glen, it’s always a pleasure to hear from you.
re: ATM
I can think of a couple of situations like that, but first just a clarification that I didn't really live in Latin America (unless you consider California a part of that), but I've met a lot of different people through my mission and vacations and being married to a Latina of Mexican descent.
That said, I agree wholeheartedly that any tourists, especially Americans, pretty much look like ATMs to any vendor or individual dead set on separating you from your dollars.
I have three experiences to back that up. Two are similar because they deal with transportation. The last one has to do with souvenirs.
Our family of four was down visiting my wife's mom and extended family in a suburb of Mexico called Neza (for short—it's a longer Aztec or some such name that I can neither pronounce or spell, but everyone calls it Neza anyway). Her uncle decided to take us into Mexico City to the Zocalo and surrounding area. I can't remember how we got there, but on the way back, we came in three separate taxis. The one her uncle rode in was charged less than 100 pesos for the trip. The second one was charged just over 100 pesos. The third one, the one I was riding in, got charged 150 pesos. Same distance, following right after another. When her uncle found out, he was fit to be tied, which was kind of humorous and sort of made up for it. :)
A friend of mine from work and I flew into the Cancun airport. We were going to meet up with my wife and sons who were staying with her family in Neza again, but we wanted to go tour some of the ruins in the vicinity first. At that time, you got off the plane onto the tarmac and walked into the airport. Upon reaching the entrance, there was a literal line of taxi drivers asking where you were going and then telling you how much they would charge. However, they were all heading to the main hotel strip in Cancun, and we were wanting to go south to Playa del Carmen, so once we told them that, they weren't so interested. But to get from the airport to the hoteleria was a couple kilometers, or so, and they wanted a couple hundred pesos, which even compared to the trip I described above was highway robbery. But as we went through the airport, the amount would go down, until it was around 100 pesos for the ride we didn't want. Finally, we got out the door and into the parking lot, and my friend suggested we just keep walking to the main road. I'm not sure what he thought was going to happen, but as we reached the main road and maybe walked a hundred yards, an empty tour bus showed up, stopped, and asked us where we were going. When we told them, they said get on, they were headed that direction. We got charged 10 pesos each, and had the entire bus to ourselves. :)
I can't remember which trip this was, but we were in Teotihuacan, another area of ruins, but this one not far from Mexico City. It has two of the largest pyramids in the entire world. Vendors are all over the place once you get inside. The same souvenir could vary in price depending on where on the site you bought it, and who you were. My wife kept trying to haggle, and I would just walk away and pretend I didn't know her because if I didn't, the prices started out higher. At one point, we came across a group of younger men who were selling something and basically chanting, "Almost free, just like Kmart!"
re: resteeming
Well, I hope I wasn't the only one to do that, and honestly, it's the least I could do. I didn't have any advice or suggestions, so hopefully getting it out to more people would help. This place can be incredibly generous and knowledgeable when it wants to be. :)
re: second chances
Oh, I have no doubt that you give out 70 x 7 chances on a regular basis. There does come a point, though, where forgiving does not mean standing there and taking the abuse, large or small. Sad thing is, people don't seem to realize that a little bit of kindness over a long period of time will produce much more lasting wealth, and a network of friends, than forcing bottled water on anyone could possibly provide.
That said, circumstances are always relative, and you live according to what you know and what you believe. If you believe the world owes you, or that a certain segment of that world has done you wrong, more times than not, you'll go try and get what you think is rightfully yours, and then you blame others for lack of success.
It certainly doesn't help that the resources of Mexico and most of Latin America are in the hands of the very few, and that most will live in poverty even America's most poor will not experience. Still, common human decency is pretty much fundamental, and even if one government has done something to cause problems in some other country, as you stated in your post, that doesn't mean the citizenry wanted it or supported it. Especially with a house as divided as ours has been over the last couple of decades.
Excellent response yet again. I misunderstood, certainly the majority of California is similar having grown up there. 100% honest, Glen, as I ‘rarely’ do 😉, having grown up in LA, in the public school system, the workforce, etc. I never ever had anything negative to say about the people living around me—never. It wasn’t until engulfing ourselves in the culture that these opinions were brought to light. It’s sad really. The same people, the same language, the same culture and the same delicious food, in California, we’re best friends. In Central and South America, it couldn’t be more opposite.
About the price changes—you couldn’t be more accurate. That’s another thing that sucked! There wasn’t a market around, everywhere we toured that didn’t negotiate the price of a frikkin Coke Zero. We got out of there before we were too dehumanized but noticed the affects as soon as we landed in NYC. We were there for a week and questioned everyone’s wOrd believing we were being deceived. It even carried over to the UK for a short period of time but we were eventually able to reprogram ourselves.
Speaking of divide—that latest divide is front page news all the way over here! Number 45 is officially number 3. Strangest thing is, I guarantee there’s still women (men, too, but women specifically) who still support the guy. I’ll never understand that. 🤔
You must have some of the best home cooking ever. The people we’ve met, a few times they’ll invite us to “Mexican food” and I always respectfully decline like “nah, that’s not Mexican food. There’s two things in California that are undeniably the best in the world—weed and Mexican food!” The Mexican food in Calif EOS is even better than in Mexico. Great—now I miss LA! We know we’re far from technology’s peak, sir, because you can’t text message me chili verde quesadilla!